Inject in the horns of RhinoStopes Rives to discourage illegal trafficking and designed to be detectable by customs agents. It is the decidedly new anti-branconing campaign launched in South Africa.
To put it in place are scholars of the University of Witwatersrand, together with nuclear energy officials and environmentalists, who have started the project Rhisotope Project – After the prototype phase of last year where small quantities of radioisotopes were injected into the horns of 20 live rhinos – with five rhinos who have already received harmless isotopes. These are
We talked about it here: a new solution to save the rhinos from the poaching could come from radioisotopes
Radioactive isotopes can in fact also be recognized at low levels by radiation detectors in airports and borders, which can lead to the arrest of poachers and traffickers.
How sure is this radioactive material in animals?
According to researchers Radiation and Health Physics Unit of the South African University, the tests conducted in the pilot study confirmed that the radioactive material was not harmful to the rhinos.
We have shown, beyond any scientific doubt, that the process is completely safe for the animal and effective in making the horn detectable through customs nuclear security systems – explains James Lankin, scientific director of the Rhisotope Project. Even a single horn with significantly lower radioactivity levels than those that will be used in practice has successfully activated alarms in radiation detectors.
The International Union for the conservation of nature estimates that the global population of Rhinetons stands at around 500,000 specimens at the beginning of the twentieth century, but now it has fallen to about 27,000 due to the continuous demand for rhinos horns on the black market.
South Africa has the largest population of rhinos with about 16,000 specimens, but the country knows high poaching levels with about 500 rhinos killed for their horns every year. It is not yet known whether these Radioisotopes proposed by South African researchers will have the effect of reducing illegal actions, but – if with the same health of animals – they really serve to improve the detection skills of the financial horns of smuggling and reveal the routes of the smuggling, welcome.
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Sources: Rhisotope Project / The Independent / IUCN
